Hypnosis is a natural state of mind that you often experience throughout your day. Whenever you are engrossed in a book or motion picture, a favorite pastime or hobby, daydreaming, or listening to an engaging speaker, you are in a natural hypnotic “trance.” Your attention is so focused that outside stimuli are ignored or “tuned out” for that period of time. This focused attention enhances the acceptance of suggestions and the response by the subconscious mind.
Some describe hypnosis as “selective perception,” where your attention is fully focused on what you are visualizing, while blocking out everything else. Others describe hypnosis as a journey into the center of yourself.
Like a
magnifying glass that focuses the rays of the sun and makes them more
powerful, hypnosis enhances the power of your mind and harnesses your
mental energy to help you make lasting and permanent changes.
What hypnosis can be used for:
Stop Smoking
Weight Reduction
Preparation for Surgery
Stress Reduction
Pain Management
Changing Unwanted Habits
Managing Chronic Health Conditions
Self-Confidence/ Self-Esteem
Sleep Improvement
Motivation/Creativity
Plus Much More
How does Hypnosis Work?
The conscious mind, the analytical reasoning part of our mind, comprises only ten percent of our mind. The other ninety percent is our subconscious mind.
The subconscious mind, like a “hard drive” of a computer, is not limited by time, space or logic. It contains a wisdom far beyond our everyday capabilities and has access to all our resources and abilities.
A hypnotist guides a client into hypnosis, a relaxed state of body and mind. The conscious/analytical reasoning part of our mind is then bypassed, and the subconscious mind, the seat of all behaviors, becomes much more alert. In this state, the subconscious mind can then be directed—through visualization and positive reinforced suggestions—to make the desirable changes. Once your subconscious mind accepts these new thoughts and behaviors, you automatically accept them at the conscious level.
Hypnosis also increases your sense of optimism and well-being by reducing anxiety, building confidence and mentally rehearsing successful outcomes.
The formula for hypnosis is basically expectation, belief and imagination coupled with suggestion.
“If you go there in your mind, you’ll go there in your body.”
Denis Waitley PhD Psychologist, Field of Mind Potential
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”
Albert Einstein
What Is A Hypnosis Session Like?
Your
first session is about gathering information and establishing goals.
The hypnotist may then ask you to do some preliminary suggestibility
exercises to determine what approach will work best for you.
The hypnotist will also explain what hypnosis is and discuss any misconceptions you might have.
Together you will set believable, realistic, and positive goals. Hypnosis is a team effort. After all, “all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis,” and the hypnotist is simply a guide to assist you in the process.
The hypnotist will then guide you through a gentle process to help relax your conscious mind. This allows you to access your subconscious mind, the hard drive of your internal computer, and direct it, through positive reinforced statements and suggestions, to make the desired or necessary changes.
Your hypnotist may provide you with a CD or other materials to reinforce your new behaviors.
The first session is approximately 90 minutes in length and follow-up sessions approximately 60 minutes.
You and your hypnotist will determine the number of sessions in the first visit or after, depending on how you are progressing.
Prepare for Surgery with Hypnosis
The surgical experience need not be filled with fear and anxiety. Research studies repeatedly show that people who prepare for surgery are less anxious, have less pain, fewer complications, and a faster recovery rate.
The use of hypnosis to relax a person before surgery has proven beneficial time and time again. Hypnotic suggestions are given to calm one’s fears, enhance the immune system and promote rapid healing and recovery.
Preparing for surgery with hypnosis is a 3-session program (may vary depending on how much time there is before surgery).
The ideal time to prepare for surgery is four to six weeks in advance.
First session: Introduction to hypnosis, discussion of upcoming surgery, relaxation session, development of healing statements.
Second session: Incorporation of your healing statements for visualization.
Third session: Talking to the body part that is involved in upcoming
surgery. Reinforcing all your new beliefs, and any other issues that
may arise.
Your own personal CD is made for you to listen to when you go home and
during surgery. This CD includes your own personal healing statements,
general relaxation, and imagery for a successful outcome.
If the surgery is for cancer treatment, and chemotherapy and/or
radiation therapy will be part of your healing program, visualization
and suggestions for managing them can be part of the program.
Note:
Preparing for surgery sessions can also be a combination of Reiki and hypnosis for more beneficial effects.
Stress Management with Hypnosis
Everyone
responds differently to stress. Some experience anxiety, difficulty
falling or staying asleep, feeling edgy or tired all the time,
headaches, palpitations or even butterflies in their stomach.
Stress
is not always a bad thing. Things like getting married, getting a new
job or moving to a new home are good things but they are still
something that one must adjust to.
The problem with stress is when it becomes overwhelming.
The demands of the change exceed our resources or ability to cope. Our lives then become out of balance and sickness can result.
Another problem with stress is that it causes the adrenal glands to secrete the stress hormone cortisol, which increases appetite and stimulates the body’s release of the fat storing hormone, Insulin. This causes the body to hold on to fat!
Hypnosis is an excellent way to manage and reduce stress.
Hypnosis can help you to identify your stress triggers as well as understand your emotional and physical responses. Through the use of hypnosis, positive changes in attitude and coping skills can lead to an improved quality of life.
Each session is geared towards understanding your stressors and learning new coping skills. Stress management begins at your first hypnosis session by learning a simple three minute technique of self-hypnosis to decrease and manage your stress.
Fifty million Americans go on diets every year, but only a small percentage manages to take the weight off and keep it off. Ninety percent of diets will help you lose weight. However, it is a known fact that most fail at helping you to keep it off.
Reducing excess weight is more than going on a diet. Many successful reducers know that part of the problem is not what you put into your mouth, but what you put into your mind! If you want to stop “yo-yo” dieting and reduce the weight once and for all, hypnosis can help!
Hypnosis works by helping you change your beliefs about food and understanding why you eat. Hypnosis helps you to make healthy choices and develop strategies to assist you on the road to success.
Stress management is a major part of permanent weight reduction. It is a known fact that stress causes the adrenal glands to secrete the stress hormone cortisol, which increases appetite and stimulates the body’s release of the fat storing hormone, Insulin. This causes the body to hold on to fat!
Hypnosis for weight reduction, helps you to replace past patterns of behavior with lifestyle choices that promote your healthy weight and allow you to manage hunger effectively.
Sessions for weight reduction include:
Stress management and coping skills
Understanding your emotions
How to manage emotional eating
Making a plan
How to nourish yourself so that food does not have to
Self-confidence
Plus much more!
Note: Each session is individualized and tailored to your needs.
Hypnosis for Cancer Management
Whether you are facing a diagnosis of cancer or beginning chemotherapy or radiation therapy, hypnosis can be a valuable tool to assist you on your journey. When used as a complementary therapy, hypnosis can optimize the effects of the treatment you are receiving and minimize its potential side effects and enhance your quality of life. Hypnosis can help you to manage the many components of cancer treatment, optimizing the odds of a positive outcome.
Hypnosis can be useful for all aspects of the cancer experience
Physical: Hypnosis can assist you in the process of preparing for and recovering from surgery/diagnostic procedures. Research studies repeatedly show that people who prepare for surgery are less anxious, have less pain, fewer complications and recover sooner.
The use of hypnosis for pain management, whether it is from the effects of the cancer or the chemo or radiation treatment, enhances the ability to feel more comfortable, resume favorite or even every-day activities, and reduce pain.
Hypnosis can help provide relief from the side effects of chemotherapy such as nausea. In addition, the guided imagery in hypnosis can help your body to protect the healthy cells, while enhancing the medications to target the cancerous cells. Hypnosis also assists you to focus on the healing process, strengthening your body’s reserves, and preserving your energy.
Psychological: Hypnosis can assist you in managing the psychological response to cancer. Hypnosis is commonly used for stress reduction, relaxation, and coping skills to help decrease anxiety, create a sense of well being, and free up more energy for you to heal. Hypnosis can help!
The diagnosis of cancer has unique psychological and medical concerns. Your first hypnosis session will focus on collecting valuable information unique to your experience. Based on the information gathered, we will set goals and determine what approach is best suited for you. Each session thereafter will be tailored to your individual needs and goals and your current situation.
Your hypnosis sessions may include preparation for surgery, management of chemotherapy/radiation, pain management, coping strategies, stress reduction, self-hypnosis for day-to-day management, plus whatever else is needed.
This program is designed to strengthen your body, mind and spirit, so that you can heal on all levels.
Past Life Exploration
Past Life Exploration is the process of going back into a previous lifetime through your subconscious mind while you are in a relaxed self-hypnotic state. It unlocks valuable information stored in the subconscious mind and provides a person with greater understanding.
The National Guild of Hypnotists’ Ethics, Standards and Terminology, stipulates, “A common Self-Help Technique is Regression. As used by a hypnotist, A Regression is a review of significant or remarkable events by the client with the Hypnotist serving as the Guide.”
(A past life exploration is also referred to as Past Life Regression or Past Life Recall.)
Why do a Past Life Regression?
For those that belief in reincarnation, past lives are building blocks of who we are today. They are the archives of our soul. Past life explorations are often a way to understand and to heal. By exploring and understanding the past life experiences, you can have an awareness of how it has affected your current life. That experience often provides insight into how to improve your current situation.
Past life regressions can be viewed as a chance to understand or explore:
Possible causes of relationship difficulties, worries, chronic health problems, phobias, fears, etc.
A current issue in your life
Your soul’s purpose in this lifetime
Current interests, abilities, skills
Dreams
What to expect in a Past Life Exploration Session
A Past Life session is much like a hypnosis session. A hypnotist will induce a light trance state usually to access the subconscious mind. You will feel deeply relaxed and peaceful. You are then taken on a journey back to the past, using hypnosis and guided imagery. The hypnotist will ask you questions and guide you through the process, asking you to describe what you are seeing or sensing. As in all hypnosis, you are always in control and will be aware of where you are and what you are doing. You can stop or control the process at any point.
The most common experience that people report is that a Past Life Exploration is like watching a movie of your life. Images play out in your mind and you are able to detach and simply observe.
Past Life Explorations can be conducted in a private session or in small groups.
